2025-2026 Executive Committee
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Jamie Jensen, PRESIDENT
Brigham Young University
jamie.jensen@byu.edu Dr. Jamie Jensen is a Discipline-based Educational Researcher (DBER) and Professor of Biology at Brigham Young University. She received a Bachelor’s Degree in Animal Science from Brigham Young University in 1999, a Master’s Degree in Biology, with an emphasis in Developmental Biology and Molecular Evolution, from Brigham Young University in 2003, and a Doctoral Degree in Biology, with an emphasis in Science Education, from Arizona State University in 2008. From 2008 to 2010, she ran educational research and taught at Chandler-Gilbert Community College where she had been teaching adjunct since 2005. She joined the faculty as a DBER in the Biology Department at Brigham Young University in 2010. Show more...
Her research foci include (1) the reconciliation of science and religion amongst religious students, (2) the creation of faculty development programs effective at teaching evidence-based instructional practices to STEM faculty, and (3) the development and assessment of undergraduate biology curricula that employ evidenced-based pedagogical strategies to increase student scientific reasoning skills and deep conceptual understanding. She teaches both majors and non-majors biology as well as advanced pedagogy classes as part of the Graduate Teaching Fellows Program at Brigham Young University. She is also a member of the Broader Social Impacts Committee for the Human Origins Initiative at the Smithsonian where she joins other religious scientists in helping the American public feel more comfortable with evolution. She has been attending SABER since 2013.
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Erin Dolan, PRESIDENT-ELECT
University of Georgia
eldolan@uga.edu
Bio coming soon.
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Miriam Segura, PAST PRESIDENT
University of North Georiga
mailto:Miriam.Segura@ung.edu
Dr. Miriam Segura is a biology professor and the Harry B. Forester Eminent Scholars Chair in Biological Sciences at the University of North Georgia (UNG). She has an A.B. in Molecular Biology from Princeton University and a Ph.D. in Biochemistry, Cell and Molecular Biology from The Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. During her seventeen-year teaching career, Dr. Segura has engaged undergraduates in research within a traditional setting, in courses that integrate her scholarly interests, and as part of national initiatives to infuse research into the curriculum. Show more...
Most recently, her research interests focus on innovative and evidence-based teaching, particularly on methods that promote critical thinking in undergraduates. Dr. Segura's teaching was recognized in 2016 through UNG's most prestigious honor, the Distinguished Teaching Award, and in 2017 through the University System of Georgia Regents' Teaching Excellence Award (Felton Jenkins, Jr. Hall of Fame Faculty Award). In 2017, she was honored to be named one of the Inspiring Leaders in STEM by INSIGHT Into Diversity Magazine. She has been the Themed Issue senior editor for the Journal of Microbiology & Biology Education since 2017. Within SABER, Dr. Segura is invested in continuing to make the society an inclusive and welcoming environment to all. To this end, she helped to create the PEER (Persons Excluded because of their Ethnicity or Race) Network SABER special interest group in 2020.
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Sheela Vemu, SECRETARY
Waubonsee Community College
svemu@waubonsee.edu
My current academic position as a two-year faculty member in a Hispanic-serving institution with a high % of First generation college-bound students presents unique challenges and opportunities. My involvement with the Community College Anatomy and Physiology Educational Research (CAPER) project and serving as Guest Editor for the special issue of CBE-Life Sciences Education (LSE) on Community College Biology Education Research has been invaluable. These roles have provided me with invaluable insights into how we can change our perspectives and policies to transform the two-year ecosystem into a more inclusive and equitable space. I've had the opportunity to participate in five national SABER meetings held in Minneapolis actively. In 2022, I presented a poster on Evidence of an Effective Study Strategy Intervention in a Community College Biology course, which was subsequently published. I was inspired to discuss pedagogical transformation using BER on a Two-Year Section panel at the National Association of Biology Teachers (NABT). In 2023, I co-led a SABER Special Interest Group (SIG) for Community Colleges, which led to becoming part of the organizing committee to lead the first Regional Midwest SABER at St Louis. Show more...
I am excited to contribute to SABER's collective leadership and make it more representative and inclusive for scholars from community colleges, minority-serving institutions, and other underrepresented institutions. SABER can increase its membership and influence other disciplinary organizations to form collaborations that will help disseminate BER findings to classroom practitioners. My role as a monitoring editor for LSE has allowed me to see the relationship between innovative scholarly work and its application and understanding in an educational context. I envision SABER as a leading force in promoting inclusive and evidence-based teaching practices, and I am committed to working towards this vision in my elected office.
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Emily W. Grunspan, EX-OFICIO MEMBER
SABER Managing Director
emilywgrunspan@saberbio.org
Emily Wojcik Grunspan is Managing Director of SABER. Emily has dedicated her career to the nonprofit sector and has worked in education programs at a museum, zoo, and university as an educator, facilitator, and leader. She holds a master's degree in Nonprofit Leadership and Management from Arizona State University.
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Mary Pat Wenderoth, HISTORIAN
University of Washington
mpw@uw.edu
Mary Pat Wenderoth is a Teaching Professor in the Biology Department at the University of Washington, Seattle (UW) where she teaches animal physiology courses and conducts biology education research on how students learn biology. Her main research interests focus on assessing implementation of cognitive science principles in the classroom, particularly those associated with conceptual change, use of first principles in constructing conceptual frameworks in physiology and student metacognition. Show more...
She also does research on academic achievement gaps in STEM and effectiveness of professional development efforts to close those gaps. She received the UW Distinguished Teaching Award in 2001and has served as the co-director of the UW Teaching Academy. She was recognized by the National Association of Biology Teachers as the Biology Education Researcher of 2017. She received the Claude Bernard Distinguished Lectureship of the American Physiology Society Teaching of Physiology Section in 2019. She is co-founder of the UW Biology Education Research Group (UW BERG) and the national Society for the Advancement of Biology Education Research (SABER). She also served as President of SABER from 2010-2019. She served as a facilitator at the HHMI Summer Institute for Undergraduate Biology Education from 2007-2011. Dr. Wenderoth earned her B.S. in Biology from the Catholic University of America in Washington D.C., a M.S. in Women's Studies from George Washington University, a M.S. in Exercise Physiology from Purdue University and her Ph.D. in Physiology from Rush University in Chicago. The Historian role has been created to facilitate communication, both between the executive committee and other SABER committees and with our membership more broadly.
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Past Presidents
Presidents serve one year in each role: President-Elect, President, and Past President Kelsey Metzger 2023-2024
University of Minnesota, Rochester Marcos Garcia-Ojeda 2022-2023
University of California, Merced
Stanley Lo 2021-2022
University of California, San Diego Jennifer Momsen 2020-2021
University of South Dakota Jenny Knight 2019-2020
University of Colorado, Boulder
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Past Treasurers Melinda Owens 2022-2025
University of California, San Diego Kristine Callis-Duehl 2019-2022
Dr. Donald Danforth Plant Science Center
Past Secretaries Melanie Melendrez-Vallard 2023-2024
Anoka-Ramsay Community College Miriam Segura 2021-2023
University of North Georgia Joseph Dauer 2019-2021
University of Nebraska-Lincoln
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